77: This city, my Myriad Paths Divine Sect, shall take it.

Wang Duojin froze in place.

The abacus in his head had stalled for the first time.

"Revered Master, would you... would you say that again?"

He suspected he had misheard.

"Make a big scene." Chu Xuanjin leaned on his rocking chair, too lazy to even lift his eyelids.

"Let everyone know you are investigating him."

Wang Duojin's chubby face wrinkled into a steamed bun.

What kind of talk was this?

Weren't investigations supposed to be done covertly?

Who goes around beating drums, terrified that others might not know?

"Bu... but Revered Master, how am I supposed to investigate like that?"

"Didn't you say that our Myriad Dao Divine Sect has taken a fancy to this Wanghai City?" Chu Xuanjin's tone carried a hint of impatience.

Wang Duojin's brain went buzz.

He seemed to understand a little, yet he seemed even more confused.

Seeing his Revered Master's "ask one more question and you're out" expression, he swallowed the remaining ten thousand questions back into his stomach.

"Disciple... understands!"

He bowed, turned, and strode away.

His footsteps carried a tragic air, like the cold wind of the Yi River.

Half an hour later.

Wanghai City, Central Plaza.

This was the most prosperous area of the entire city, and also the location of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion branch under the jurisdiction of the City Lord's Mansion.

The Heavenly Secret Pavilion was responsible for publishing various rankings in the Central Plains and also managed the registration of land and Immortal Cave transactions within the city.

Wang Duojin puffed out his belly, leading a dozen Inner Sect Disciples and Outer Sect Disciples, including Ergou and Lin Yi, as they marched imposingly into the gates of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion.

"Someone come out! Where is the manager!"

Wang Duojin's shout was full of Qi.

The entire first-floor lobby of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion fell silent instantly.

All the Cultivators conducting business looked over in unison.

An old man wearing the deacon attire of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, with a Late Stage Nascent Soul cultivation, walked over with a frown.

"Who is making a ruckus here?"

"Me!" Wang Duojin pointed at himself with his gold abacus.

"Myriad Dao Divine Sect, Wang Duojin."

Behind him, Lin Yi and the others took a step forward in unison.

Although the group of over a hundred people said nothing, the fierce aura they had just brought from the Eastern Wasteland instantly lowered the temperature of the lobby by several degrees.

The deacon old man's pupils constricted.

Myriad Dao Divine Sect!

That group of powerful newcomers who had forced the City Guard Commander to kneel the moment they entered the city!

The displeasure on his face instantly turned into a professional fake smile.

"So it is Young Master Wang of the Myriad Dao Divine Sect, excuse my lack of manners."

"I wonder what business brings Young Master Wang here?"

"Nothing major." Wang Duojin waved his hand, speaking nonchalantly.

"I've come to ask, is this Wanghai City of yours for sale?"

"Pfft—"

A Cultivator who was drinking tea sprayed it all over the face of the person opposite him.

The entire lobby fell into an eerie silence.

The fake smile on the deacon old man's face froze.

"Young... Young Master Wang, what... what did you say?"

"I said." Wang Duojin enunciated clearly, his voice spreading throughout the entire lobby.

"This Wanghai City, from the east gate to the west wall, from the Spiritual Vein at the bottom of the sea to the floating Immortal mountain in the sky."

"All the shops, all the Immortal Caves, all the streets, all the toilets."

"My Myriad Dao Divine Sect wants it all."

"You, name your price."

Boom!

The lobby instantly exploded into chaos!

"He's crazy! These guys from the Eastern Wasteland must be insane!"

"Buy the entire Wanghai City? Does he know how many Spirit Stones flow through this city in a day?"

"Even the Holy Lord of a Central Plains Holy Land wouldn't dare make such a boast!"

"Arrogant! Simply arrogant to the extreme!"

The deacon old man's face turned from blue to white.

He had been a deacon here for hundreds of years and had seen all kinds of big shots.

But this was the first time he had heard such an outrageous request.

"Young... Young Master Wang, please... please stop joking."

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Wang Duojin glared.

"My Revered Master said that he thinks this place is not bad and wants to buy it to use as a back garden."

"I advise you to go report to your City Lord right now."

Seeing Wang Duojin's expression, which did not look fake, a chill rose from the deacon's feet.

He dared not speak further and scrambled toward the back hall.

The news flew out of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion as if it had wings.

In less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick, it had spread throughout all of Wanghai City.

"Did you hear? That Myriad Dao Divine Sect wants to buy our Wanghai City!"

"What? Buy the city? How many Spirit Stones do they have? Are they buying it with their heads?"

"Shh! Keep it down! It is said that this is the intention of their Sect Master! That is the terrifying existence who made the Overlord of the Dead Sea pull a boat with a single sentence!"

"My god! Are they thinking of seizing it by force?"

For a time, the entire Wanghai City was in panic.

Countless Cultivators, Families, and Chambers of Commerce were plunged into great fear and unease.

Tingchao Pavilion.

Li Xuanfeng had just returned to his residence and hadn't even sat down when he heard this news that made his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

"Snap!"

The teacup in his hand shattered.

"These... these ancestors, what do they want to do now!"

All the blood drained from his face.

He wracked his brains but couldn't understand what the Myriad Dao Divine Sect was trying to do.

Could it be that they really wanted to make an enemy of the entire Central Plains?

"Prepare the carriage! Quickly prepare the carriage!"

He rushed out of the mansion like a madman.

"Go to the Heavenly Secret Pavilion!"

He had to go, he had to go and stabilize those lawless ancestors!

City Lord's Mansion, secret room.

Wei Zheng watched the absurd farce in the Heavenly Secret Pavilion via a water mirror, first stunned, then he let out a low, neurotic laugh.

"Haha... Hahahaha!"

"Idiots! Truly a bunch of hopeless idiots!"

His eyes were full of contempt and mockery.

"Buy the city? And use it as a back garden?"

"Do they really think that with just that bit of brute force, they can do whatever they want in the Central Plains?"

He thought that this Myriad Dao Divine Sect was even stupider and more arrogant than he had imagined.

This was simply sticking their necks out onto his blade.

"Someone come."

He spoke coldly to the Void Realm.

A black shadow appeared silently behind him.

"Go tell Li Xuanfeng."

"Let him stabilize those idiots."

"Tell him that the City Lord's Mansion is very interested in this 'business'."

"Invite them to my mansion three days from now to discuss it in detail."

"Yes."

The black shadow disappeared into nothingness again.

Wei Zheng looked at Wang Duojin's arrogant face in the water mirror, and the sinister grin on his mouth became increasingly savage.

"Come, all of you come."

"My Ten Thousand Demon Blood Sacrifice Array is already hungry and impatient..."

Heavenly Secret Pavilion.

Wang Duojin sat in the deacon's seat, legs crossed, holding a ledger from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion and reading it with great interest.

"Tsk tsk, the rent for an Immortal Cave in this area is thirty thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones a year? That's robbery!"

"And this teleportation array, the fee for one use is so high? This is simply a black shop!"

Every time he spoke, the faces of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion Cultivators standing nearby turned a shade paler.

Just then, Li Xuanfeng rushed in, anxious and flustered.

"Young Master Wang! Young Master Wang! You can't do this! You absolutely cannot!"

He ran to Wang Duojin, sweating profusely.

"Let's talk things over, let's talk things over! If you buy Wanghai City, where will people like us live!"

Wang Duojin glanced at him and slowly closed the ledger.

"That's not my concern."

"I'm only responsible for buying, not for relocation."

Li Xuanfeng was about to cry.

Just as he was about to persuade him further, a personal guard from the City Lord's Mansion walked in quickly.

He bowed to Li Xuanfeng, then handed a beautifully crafted, gold-stamped invitation to Wang Duojin.

"Young Master Wang."

The guard's voice was neither servile nor overbearing.

"My City Lord has an order."

"He said he has felt the sincerity of the Myriad Dao Divine Sect."

"He is very interested in this business."

"Three days from now, the City Lord's Mansion will host a banquet and would like to invite your Sect Master and all the honored guests to come over and discuss the grand plan of buying the city."